The device has been stringently checked

A team of scientists based in Singapore have invented new handheld technology that will enable health workers involved in a bird flu outbreak to take to swab samples from animals and have a clear result about whether they are infected with the flu virus within half an hour. This technology could be extremely useful and even crucial in immediately containing bird flu viruses and outbreaks in farms around the world.

Up until now it used to take around four hours for the test to be undertaken in a laboratory and there was the problem of getting the virus to the lab in the first instance. Sometimes it would take as much as 24 hours for the proper confirmation that the disease was present in some animals. In some parts of the world where the laboratories were located miles and miles away it was extremely difficult for health workers to get a quick identification of the virus. The device has been stringently checked and has been shown to be just as consistent as the lab tests and has the added advantage of being cheaper to produce a result when compared to sending it to a clinical lab. 

One of the scientists involved in the research that was done at the Singapore Institute of Bioengineering & Nanotechnology said that the technology could be expanded so that the handheld device could be used to detect a whole list of other diseases such as AIDS and hepatitis.  This would be extremely useful in third world countries where laboratories are in very short supply.

The World Health Organisation is taking the dangers of the bird flu virus extremely seriously and has recommended that all nations around the world stock up on the influenza medication Tamiflu which is made by the pharmaceutical company Roche.